Voter ID: Laws like Pennsylvania’s place barriers before rights

A judge in Pennsylvania last week decided that state’s new law requiring would-be voters to show a valid photo identification card is OK.

Could there be a partisan motive? Could this raise barriers to voting for tens of thousands of eligible Democratic voters in Pennsylvania on Nov. 6? Well, yes, the judge conceded. But the photo ID requirement is a “reasonable, nondiscriminatory, nonsevere burden” when weighed against “public confidence in elections,” he said.

The judge, Robert Simpson, is a Republican appointee. The state Legislature that passed the voter ID law is run by Republicans, and it was signed by a GOP governor. Most of the energy behind the 180 bills proposed since last year that would affect voting in 41 states — including New York, as well as swing states like Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania — comes from Republicans, according to the New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice. Indeed, New York’s Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo this week moved to liberalize voter registration, allowing anyone with a state driver’s licenses to sign up online.

Judging by the rhetoric in circulation this year, you’d think Democrats are out to steal elections by stuffing the ballot boxes with illegal votes, while Republicans are trying to suppress every Democratic vote they can. Both sides claim the moral high ground: The GOP is protecting the integrity of the democratic process, while Democrats seek to preserve and expand the franchise.

Untangling facts from rhetoric is a challenge, but a couple of things are clear: One, there is no epidemic of voter fraud that warrants a nationwide crackdown. The Brennan Center points out incidents are about as rare as getting struck by lightning.

Second, requiring a valid ID everywhere to vote, instead of a simple signature, would burden as many as 21 million citizens, according to the Brennan Center — many of them elderly, poor or minorities, or all three.

Photo IDs are widely used, but not universally. There is no “national ID card.” You show ID when you get on a plane, buy a bottle of booze or get stopped by police. If you don’t have an ID card, getting one can be a bother — particularly if you’re one of the millions of Americans without easy access to your birth certificate.

The fact that there are 63 million registered Democrats and 47 million Republicans suggests the GOP would benefit from a crackdown. But instead of barring the way, Republican candidates should be trying to win over Democratic voters — and the 32 million independents.

Voting isn’t like buying a beer, after all. It’s a right and responsibility of citizenship. “Every citizen shall be entitled to vote at every election,” states New York’s constitution. To deny that right on the basis of a technicality is a grievous wrong.